Corruption Plagues the Nation Topic 2 3 Political

Corruption Plagues the Nation Topic 2. 3

Political Corruption • Ulysses S. Grant • Popular war hero but a disappointing president • Scandal!!

Credit Mobilier Scandal • Government loans given to Union Pacific for TCRR – Union Pac hires out Credit Mobilier company to build tracks the Union Pacific trains would ride on • CM overcharges Union Pac, then bribes key congressmen to keep funds coming – Not investigated until 1872

Credit Mobilier Scandal • Discovered they gave stock to representatives of both parties • Including a future President, future Vice President, several cousins of President Grant, and as many as 30 other officials

Spoils System • Elected officials appointed friends and supporters, regardless of their qualifications • Ensured a loyal group of supporters in future elections • Led to corruption when jobs were used for personal profit

• After his election in 1876, Hayes refused to use the patronage system. Began to reform the civil service or government’s non elected workers – Appointed qualified people, fired employees who were not needed – strengthened the government but helped weaken the Republicans

James A. Garfield won • In 1880 election, James A. Garfield won – July 2, 1881, Charles Guiteau, a mentally unstable lawyer, shot Garfield – Died 3 month later • Caused a public outcry against the spoils system • Chester Arthur became President

Pendleton Civil Service Act • Passed in 1883 Chester Arthur • Created a civil service commission – Classified government jobs and tested applicants’ fitness

Pendleton Civil Service Act • Federal employees could not be required to contribute to campaign funds • Could not be fired for political reasons

Munn v. Illinois, 1877 • RR’s were overcharging farmers Interstate Commerce Commission • Standardized shipping rates • Allowed states to regulate certain businesses within their borders, including railroads • Lawyers argued that only federal government could regulate interstate commerce

Economic Depression, 1893 • Millions of workers lost their jobs had wages cut • Laissez-faire policies – government – offered no help • Coxey’s Army • 1894 - Jacob S. Coxey called on unemployed workers to march on the nation’s capital • • Many small “armies” started out on the protest march, only Coxey’s army reached Washington Police arrested him and a few others for illegally carrying banners and trampling the grass

Growing Cities • Political Machine-was an unofficial city organization designed to keep a particular party or group in power and usually headed by a single powerful boss. – Sometime the boss held public office – More often he handpicked others to run for office and then helped them win

Rise of Political Machines • Worked through exchange favors Used an army of ward leaders • Each managed a city district to handout city jobs and contracts to residents of their ward • In return expected to give votes to machines • Extremely corrupt • Controlled local politics

Rise of Political Machines • Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall • Political club that ran New York City’s Democrat Party William Marcy Tweed – Boss Tweed You worked for a political machine in hopes of getting a government job that could lead you to big bucks through government corruption.

Political Machines (continued) • Helped many immigrants who were “fresh off the boat” with jobs and housing in exchange for their votes • Tweed and friends padded bills for construction projects and supply contracts with fake expenses and kept the extra money • Through countless instances of fraud-many millions of dollars

Political Machines (continued) • The nickname for Tammany Hall was the “Tammany Tiger; ” this cartoon shows the Tiger riding on the backs of immigrants. . . from where he gets his power.

• Political cartoons by German immigrant Thomas Nast helped bring down tweed • Exposed his methods to the public • Depicted Tweed as a thief and a dictator who manipulated New York City politics for his own benefit • Convicted of crimes Tweed died in jail • Tammany Hall dominated New York politics for another half century

Thomas Nast The Man Who Drew Santa Claus!!